Kirsty Mckenzie
DEBATE is always raging over whether moving to Spain is the secret to finding happiness.
Whether it’s €1 coffee or the laidback lifestyle, almost-always-Spain is the dream destination for many.
But this week and unearthed forum post has seen the expat community boggling at the opinion of one man who moved to Spain.
Unhappy Nick Anders confessed that he ‘hates’ living in Spain after moving to Nerja, blaming crime levels and the fear of ‘getting ripped off’ among his biggest gripes with the country.
In the tell-all blog post, Nick recounted how struggled to find work after relocating to the Costa del Sol with £15,000.
He grumbled that his dream quickly turned into a nightmare, and now only has the ‘shirt on my back’ after splashing all his savings in the south of Spain.
He said: “I’ve had enough, get me out of here – whatever your choice – the end result is the same.
“There are lots of downsides to living in Spain and I just didn’t know about these when I moved to Spain.”
Nick said: “An expat’s life in Spain can be a constant struggle, make sure you are prepared for all this.”
He added: “I figured that with so many expats living in Spain that there must be a bundle of new business opportunities or companies looking for staff.
“I was so wrong! I soon found that jobs and opportunities in Spain were few and far between apart from the obvious ones.
“I hate villa cleaning, I hate cleaning pools, I hate working in bars until 2am waiting for the last drunken expat to leave.
Nick also struggled with getting around in Spain and said the country’s roads had pushed him to leave.
He said: “I hate the lack of infrastructure in Spain. The motorways are superb as a lot of EU money has been given to Spain but locally our roads are terrible.
“The amount of tyres we go through because of holes in the road is ridiculous.”
He added: “There is no drainage so when it rains heavily places get flooded and roads are washed away.
“Areas that used to soak up the water have been built on due to pure greed. The councils just don’t seem to invest back in the community.”
Nick said: “I wish I had never moved to Spain and I urge anyone thinking of Spain seriously to consider my story.
“Don’t even think about moving to Spain if you have no money, it is not the cheap place to live that it used to be, the cost of living in Spain continues to match UK levels.
“If you really must try living in Spain then don’t sell your house in the UK, don’t burn your bridges, try to live in Spain for one month or a year by renting a house for that length of time.”
However, one expat disagreed with Nick and wrote: “You had only €15,000 and no income and obviously couldn’t find a suitable job, this begs the question how could you finance buying a property.
“Many people have come to the beautiful town of Nerja, found work (maybe not what is their first choice) but made a go of it.
“We did 20 years ago and now consider Nerja our home.”
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Curious–but why is this posted as news now? The guy wrote this post in 2013. I read it two years ago before moving to Spain and discounted it because it was so old and out-dated. Things do change.